Free lunch

The lunch program at Mighty Big Firm is more generous than some (we have a $70 per person allowance each time we go out) and less generous than others (we are supposed to average two per week -- which many have not reached, actually, the last time I generally checked around).

There are other rules: the group must be no larger than six. There must be at least one summer and one associate. Transportation, if needed, is included in the $70 per person.

(Seventy dollars, by the way, will buy you a LOT of Indian food at a highly rated place near the office. It will not be enough for appetizer, entree and dessert at the Four Seasons.)

Today I came back from a rather nice lunch at a Vietnamese place, Le Colonial. I had the $22 sea scallop dish, and was encouraged to get dessert and an appetizer (you see why the waistline expands). The group was heavily Crimson Law-dominated (I think only one person wasn't getting or had gotten their law degree from Crimson), but there was one woman I enjoyed meeting, and another two with whom I'm friendly. So it was not bad, as lunches go.

I have mixed feelings about the lunches. I like a nice meal, sure, and a free nice meal is even better. But I hate the way we are encouraged to spend so extravagantly, just because we can. Last week I was at Lever House (where Barbara Walters was sitting right behind us), and they didn't have the first appetizer I wanted, and then didn't have the second appetizer I wanted. Now, Lever House is tres spendy, but their food isn't that great (more on that in a moment), and I also wasn't very hungry. So I said, you know, I'm just going to skip the appetizer.

At least three people offered to split their appetizer with me. I was asked if I was sure I didn't want to order one.

Okay, this was polite, but it was also, I think, borne out of this incredulity that we were at a fancy place, we were getting a free lunch, and that I really should order something -- even though I didn't want anything -- just to order something.

As I mentioned, the food at Lever House is vastly overrated, I think, and far too expensive for what it is (except their desserts, which are quite good). I've been thinking this summer that many of the tres tres places I've been eating at have been overrated -- decent food, but nothing special. There are exceptions, yes: the venison at Aquavit was superb, as was the bison at the Four Seasons (though still vastly overpriced at $50). The chicken at L'Impero was flavorful and juicy in a way chicken often fails to be.

I noticed something two weekends ago when Joiner was visiting. I took her to Town and Sushi Yasud*a, two restaurants popular among the lunch program set. And you know? The food was really good. I mean, it tasted better than any of the lunches I'd been on so far.

There's something about having to make conversation in a professional setting, with people you don't really know, that can really dampen the experience of fine dining. The food just doesn't taste as good.

Last thing about free lunch -- I've been thinking the past week or so that I'd like to thank my assistants (I have officially one admin assistant, but I sit closer to another one who has been very kind and helpful) before I leave. So I thought I'd take them out to lunch. I asked them today, and they said, "oh, but I'm giving blood tomorrow," but once they saw I was serious, they said okay, we could give blood next week. We settled on a time and place for tomorrow.

Curious, I sent an email to the summer coordinators to ask if assistants could participate in the lunch program. One of them called me back and said, "You know, that's very generous of you, but unfortunately, they are not allowed to take part in the program."

Instead of asking why, which I should have done, I breezily and easily said, "No problem, I just wanted to make sure. I'll just take them out on my own."

A few minutes later, my associate liaison called about setting up an exit lunch, at which guests are allowed, and where the limit is $80 per person (oh la la!). I told her I had just committed to taking my assistants to lunch, and that I was going out with my partner mentor on Friday. Hoping we could get around the rule, I said, "Well, if only I could take both of them as my guests for the exit lunch... But I guess if they're not allowed to participate in the lunch program..."

Unfortunately, the associate didn't take me up on my subtle suggestion, and I will simply just not go on my exit lunch. Which -- whatev. The only reason I have to be annoyed about this is based on that same instinct everyone has to order the appetizer, even if there isn't any appetizer you want.

But I do think that non-lawyers should be allowed to go on free lunches -- if you invite them as your guests, for one, and then also as fully qualified participants of the lunch program. I mean, a secretary who's worked in the tax department for 10 years is going to know a hell of a lot more about the department, the firm and the working environment than some first year associate who's been there 9 months. And while associates move around and out of the firm on a regular basis, the staff are far more permanent. If I come back as an associate, my office mate, my associate liaison, and the people I worked with and liked in any given department might very well be gone. But the longtime secretaries are less likely to have left.

On top of all that, those secretaries should be valued for the work they do, and the myriad ways in which they make my life and other associates' lives easier. The summer associates do next to nothing, and they get free lunches twice a week. The secretaries help everyone and get no free lunches, or partner dinners, or events.

Part of this is clearly a class issue for me -- my aunt, who is older than my assistant (who is a good 15 years older than me), couldn't have gotten a job like this if she had tried. I may have gone to private schools and done the horseback riding lessons and the Ivy League institutions, but my biggest childhood influences were my aunt and my uncle -- solidly blue collar, humble, frugal folk. I cringe a little at the thought that I, a relatively snot-nosed kid, am regularly treated to $70 lunches that would be beyond the budget of even the most special of occasions for my aunt and uncle.

So I do the best I can to address that tension. I offer to take my assistants to lunch. They can't take the two and a half hours that I regularly do, and I can't afford $70 lunches for each of them, but they'll have an hour, and they'll have $15 entrees, and I hope they'll have a decent time of it with me tomorrow.